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In January 1975, I had just moved to Chamonix France to ski after completing a 2-month French language immersion program (click here to read that post). I was excited to put my newfound language skills to use. But nobody could have predicted what happened during my first two weeks in Chamonix.

Shortly after arriving in Chamonix, I met Patrick Cachat and moved in with him and a couple of his friends at a small chalet. We took the train up the valley about eight kilometers to Argentière to ski at Les Grands Montets, the largest and most challenging ski resort in the Chamonix Valley. With over 6,000 feet of vertical it’s a skier’s dream.

Les Grand Montets (the Big Mountains) are truly big mountain skiing, with open terrain next to the Argentière Glacier. As I explored the mountain the next few days, I discovered many natural features that were perfectly shaped for alpine jumping. Having been a ski jumper as a kid, I loved flying through the air and doing jumps with names like spread eagle, back scratcher, and daffy.

I also noticed a few skiers who were wearing bright green outfits and doing impressive jumps and tricks on skis. Apparently, they were part of a “hot dog” or freestyle ski team, called the Poods.

Patrick introduced me to one of them, Bernard Garcia, and we skied together for a few runs. Bernard then asked me to do a jump out of a deep ravine. I recall doing a daffy, where one leg is in front and the other in back. Just as I finished, another skier in a green suit came down and did one, only higher and longer. That’s when I met Bernard’s younger brother, Francois.

We skied together for the rest of the day, and I was in awe of their abilities. They were the best skiers I had ever seen. I did not know it at the time, but they were checking me out to see if I would be a good addition to their hot dog ski team.

A few days later I got a call from Bernard. He was talking with me about the Poods and something about an upcoming tour and wondered if I was interested in joining the team. Although I could understand French fairly well by that time, it was hard on a telephone to figure out exactly what he was proposing.

So he hung up and came up to our chalet to speak with me in person. He described how the Poods started to ski together in 1973, and took its name from founding members Pierre POncet, Maurice POulain, and Jacques Démarchi. This poster was from that time.

By the winter of 1974-75, Maurice and Jacques had retired, and three others had joined with Pierre — Bernard and Francois Garcia and Pascal Bonnaire. They were looking for a fifth member and thought that I might fit the bill.

We decided that we’d meet at Les Grands Montets the next day and practice some jumps. I suppose it was my audition, to see if I could perform on the big stage. I was definitely out of my league but just watching them perform built my confidence and I was able to jump higher and farther each time. I even tried a 360^o (also called a helicopter) and a front flip for the first time ever.

Trial by Fire

Then came the trial by fire. They asked me to jump in a show at Val D’Isere, a ski resort a few hours away. Why not? Well I learned the next day why not. The jumps were massive and the landing was rock hard. I did OK in the warm-up, but then during the show I tried a 360 and fell backward, bruising my calves at the boot top.

I could barely walk, let alone do another jump. I limped off to the side and Maurice had to come out of retirement to take my place in the show. The photo below shows Maurice, Pierre, and Bernard at that show.

To say that it was an inauspicious start would be a huge understatement.

I returned to Chamonix really disappointed in my performance. But I decided to improve my skills by practicing in earnest. We went up to Les Grands Montets and I practiced until I felt comfortable jumping. I was pretty good at doing the traditional jumps and slowly built confidence doing harder jumps, like a 360 and a front flip.

I was definitely the weakest link on the team but must have improved enough to get invited to join the team for their upcoming national tour.

A Six-Week Tour of 15 Ski Areas Throughout France
On January 31—only two weeks after I met Bernard, we left Chamonix on a six-week tour at 15 ski areas throughout France, covering over 2,000 miles.

We started our tour with shows at three ski areas in the Pyrenees; then a show at Super Besse in the Massif Central of France; and finally shows in 11 ski resorts in the Alps (shown in the map below).

The Jumps in Our Shows

Our typical show lasted almost an hour and included about 30 jumps. We’d begin each show with all five of us going off the jumps at the same time, followed by different combinations of us doing a variety of jumps. In between the jumps, Bernard would entertain the audience with an acrobatic ballet routine across the landing.

Francois created our jump list on the back of a poster as we traveled to the Pyrenees and our first show (see below):

Pierre wowed the audience with a huge back flip flying 100 feet through the air. Nearly every news story about the show featured a picture of Pierre flying upside down (see below).

Francois was a gifted skier and one of the few skiers in Europe at that time able to do a back flip with a full twist. And Bernard could do anything on skis, including a ballet routine doing flips over his ski poles. Pascal and I were more like back-up singers, filling in the main acts with spread eagles, daffys, back-scratchers, 360s, or front flips.

The Rhythm of the Tour: A-Team and B-Team

The Poods Tour was managed by Georges Morel and sponsored by Radio Monte Carlo. Jean Sas (in baseball cap below) was the MC and was joined by a sound crew. We typically spent about two days in each resort. The first day was spent prepping the jumps and the second day was “Le Spectacle” (The Show).

After each show, the “A Team” (Pierre, Francois, and the RMC crew) would stay at the resort and ski with locals and do radio and media interviews. They would also go out and party the night after the show, meeting local celebrities.

As the “B-Team,” Bernard, Pascal and I worked as the back stage crew. After each show we’d skip the after-party, and instead hop into our VW bus and drive to the next resort. Our nights were more serene, usually just the three of us having a quiet dinner at our hotel.

The next day we’d meet with ski area groomers to make sure that the jumps were designed properly. Each jump had to have five take-off ramps: The center ramp was the biggest and built for Pierre to do his huge back flip. On each side were steep ramps that were for doing front and back flips. And the outside two platforms were for upright jumps.

We’d test out the jumps and if they were OK we’d have the rest of the day to ski. Often they were not OK, so we’d have to get out the shovels and work with the groomers to get them right. At the end of the day, the A-Team would arrive and we’d have dinner together before going to bed early for the show the next day.

The Ups and Downs of Being a Hot Dog Skier

In 1978, my brother Mike and Françoise were visiting London, and went into a bookstore. There on a shelf was a calendar, Le Petit Calendrier de France ’79. When they opened it, they saw a picture of me that had been taken during the 1975 Poods Tour. What is the chance of that happening?

Then almost 40 years after I was in Chamonix, I was planning to return for a visit. So I called a hotel to make a reservation, and casually mentioned to the person that I had skied with the Poods in the mid-1970s. When we arrived she said that she asked around and nobody knew anything about the Poods. She even Googled it. Nothing.

I realized then that if something happened before the Internet existed, it never happened. So when I got back home, I scanned a few photos and started a Facebook page for the Poods (click here). Now, a decade later, you can see that most of the followers of that page are old men from France!

Finalword

Finally, in 2022, a local magazine in Madison did a story about the Poods that is available here.